The Canadian Football League fined the Toronto Argonauts $5,000 Friday afternoon for violating the league’s tampering rules by approaching Chris Jones while he was still under contract to the Calgary Stampeders.

CFL tampering rules state any person “directly or indirectly” connected with one club is prohibited from “directly or indirectly through an agent or by public or private statement or inference, contacting or negotiating with … any non-playing person connected with another member club.”

In a statement the Argos accepted the fine called the violation an “inadvertent error.”

“The Toronto Argonauts recognize that casual conversations between various individuals frequently take place in professional sports that may unintentionally violate the spirit of a league’s by-laws but are often not subject to fines,” the statement read.

On Wednesday, Calgary head coach John Hufnagel told reporters that Jones, his defensive co-ordinator, came to him and resigned on Tuesday and informed Hufnagel he was moving to Toronto.

“I’m very surprised; had no forewarning of it,” said Hufnagel, who also confirmed the Argos did not ask permission to speak with Jones. “That is just what happened. I would have liked to have seen things go differently.”

After a flurry of speculation during this week, Toronto on Thursday hired Montreal Alouettes offensive co-ordinator Scott Milvanovich as head coach. It was expected he would hire Jones as defensive co-ordinator and bring Montreal receivers coach Marcus Brady to be his offensive co-ordinator. On Thursday, however, only Milanovich was introduced, and Argos general manager Jim Barker would not discuss further changes to Toronto’s coaching staff.

But Barker did say Toronto did not approach Calgary for permission to speak with Jones.

“Chris Jones was never even brought up in discussions we had about staffing,” Barker said. “So that is what happened. We have not approached the Calgary Stampeders. There has been nothing else done at this point.”

When a reporter asked if Milanovich had spoken to Jones about coming to Toronto, Barker interrupted before his new coach could speak.

“I don’t think we need to talk about specifics of this,” Barker said. “It is getting totally off topic.”